Laguna Beach, California

Yesterday, Eddie and I woke up bright and early to hit the beach. It was a long drive--Eddie said that instead of going to the beaches up near where they live, Malibu and Santa Monica, we were going down south a little further to a town in Orange County called Laguna Beach.

Sadie and Eddie go to Laguna Beach

Laguna, I learned, is the Spanish word for "Lagoon." Easy, right?! There are several lagoons in this town, which is the second oldest town in Orange County. It started out as a farming community, but then the farmers realized that the farming wasn't so great, but their beaches were. They started renting out beach houses to other farmers who lived further inland and wanted to escape the summer heat. Thus Laguna Beach, one of the first tourist towns in California, was born. Apparently, Laguna Beach has some of the prettiest beaches in California. Now Laguna Beach is a popular tourist spot, and also a popular artist community. The beach we are going to is called Corona del Mar.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was still overcast! It was warm but overcast, and Eddie says this is pretty typical at this time of year. Many areas experience "June Gloom," with warm fog in the morning, and overcast skies until afternoon. When the sun has been out a while the clouds burn off, but there is no telling how long it will take each day, so Eddie says there's no point in letting a little gray skies ruin our trip.

First we went to Look Out Point, where we took, well a look, out at the ocean.



It was beautiful! We could see the faint curvature of the earth! To the north we could see Balboa Island and a breakwater, and many people were taking their sailing ships and yachts out. To the south stretched the beach, which even early in the morning was pretty busy. There were tons of people playing beach volley ball, surfing, and just enjoying the water. Eddie said that we would go to the beach, but not the obvious one. We went down a long flight of stairs and then climbed up a huge set of rocks. On the other side, we found a beautiful cove that looked out over the harbor. The waves here weren't as big as on the other side, because the breakwater protected the beach.

We had lots of fun exploring. First, we looked at some tidal pools. I found some neat sea creatures, including some sea anemones. I took a picture and when I got home I looked it up. It turns out that they are called green starburst sea anemones. They use their tentacles to catch food. I found this website about them, and I think they are really neat!



In this picture there are at least four starburst anemones. Can you find them all? Here's a hint: Some of them are eating, eek! Genevieve told Eddie and I that when she was little, the tide pools had a lot more animals. She said they had more fish, grabs, and star fish. Unfortunately, since the beaches are so popular, a lot of tourists and hobbyists will "hunt" the tide pools, taking interesting creatures home for their fish tanks. This leaves the real tide pools barren. This isn't good, since it means that the ecosystem of the tide pools is unbalanced and also because a lot of the sea creatures die once they are removed from their native habitat.

After that, we went looking for seashells. I found a few really pretty ones, and also a crab. Remembering what Genevieve told me, I decided to leave him alone and instead just took a picture.



Playing in the ocean is so much fun! Eddie taught me how to body surf. That's when you go out about waist deep in the water. You wait for a wave to come along and when it does you JUMP at just the right moment and let it take you in to shore and you go sailing in, really fast, to glide in to the beach. But if you don't time it just right, watch out! The wave can knock you down and send you tumbling, over and over so that you have sand and saltwater going up your nose. It's so cool! I can see why Kailey loves to surf so much!

Body surfing is hard work and a lot of exercise. Finally we decided to take a break. We refreshed our sunscreen and had a snack and mellowed out by the water. Just sitting on the beach, listening to the ocean waves is so relaxing.



I love the beach. Time stands still while you are there. The sun and the waves and the sand just sort of seep in to you, leaving you happy and tired. After we went home last night, as I lay in bed I could still feel the movement of the ocean as I drifted off to sleep.